Kū Kiaʻi Mauna Kea: Hawaiian Heaven vs American Empire
Defending Mauna Kea: Hawaiian Heaven v$ the American Empire
Mauna Kea needs a lawyer. Most sacred mountain of Native Hawaiian and Earth-spirit cultures, under siege by industrial developers and military domination, seeks an educated legal representative before the World Court of opinion. And UNESCO. Also, a PR agency would be excellent, to break the media silence in America.
The history of Hawai'i in the last century has been largely a matter of what invading and occupying interests could "get away with." Under the threat of force by the military American state, industrialist families "overthrew" the Hawaiian Kingdom and imprisoned their Queen, which allowed for a white-controlled Republic to become the 50th State of the USA. All the while land was bought and sold, military bases and bombing ranges expanded, foreign populations flooded in, and America looked the other way, embroiled in their own foreign wars of occupation.
If American media would simply show the truth of what has taken place here in the Hawaiian islands, to Native Hawaiian culture and people, the devastation of the land, hell, simply show what building a modern "telescope" on a pristine volcanic landscape looks like... the nation would rise up in shock and protest. But the don't see the bombing and destruction of Kaho'olawe, most sacred navigation beacon in the heart of the islands, they know absolutely nothing of the gigantic bombing range between the two largest and most sacred volcanoes on Earth, "Pohakuloa Training Area"... in the most endangered bird habitat in the USA.
So while Native Hawaiian leaders and cultural practitioners confront a vast governmental-industrial cultural empire seeking to build the largest telescope yet, the 13-story TMT project on their most sacred heavenly mountain, US media ignores and looks the other way to more important stories, like Donald Trump running for a Presidential election more than a year away. While the most dramatic First Nation cultural clash in recent years takes place in the most cinematic locations in "Paradise", America pretends it doesn't know anything about Hawai'i, once again.
Maybe this appeal from an academic scholar could break through "cognitive dissonance"?
http://hawaiiankingdom.org/blog/hawaii-law-professor-provides-clarity-of-dispute-on-mauna-kea-to-uh-board-of-regents/
Sacred Mountain - Mauna Kea, Hawaii
When I say “Mauna Kea” is sacred, I do not mean to use “sacred” the way most people use that term. I mean “sacred” not in the same sense of worship. I use “sacred” in the sense of “precious” and “so important that nothing else counts”—I apply it to those things and people that we care so much about that we would do anything, even flout and break the law, to preserve their existence.
The child of a parent, especially a young child is “sacred” in this sense. So are parents to their children. So are grandparents. Even the family pet is “sacred.” If your house was burning down would you risk your life to go into the burning house to rescue your children, your mother, your grandparents, even your beloved dog or cat? Would you go even if forbidden by first responders, firemen or policemen? Yes, many of us would go without hesitation–without thinking of the consequences. Would you give a kidney to save or extend the life of your child, your brother, your uncle? Would you spend all of your money to save a loved one from cancer? from Lou Gehrig’s disease or from a life in prison without parole? Yes, we all would.
Moreover, we praise such emotions and desires of others who make such sacrifices every day. We understand the soldier who sacrifices himself by instinctively jumping on a grenade. We understand the parent or grandparent who gives all their money to see their child or grandchild through college.
Whether one worships Mauna Kea or not, whether one considers it “sacred” does not matter as much as understanding the instincts that drive those to defend and save Mauna Kea—much as one would understand the absolute love for a child, or a parent even if such acts break the law.
When we see the instinct of family, of brotherhood, of sisterhood of love for mankind in others we celebrate that—we gravitate to that. We love and defend Mauna Kea because it reminds us what makes us human. Sacred is not necessarily a place. It is a relationship, a deep visceral relationship: beyond reason, beyond law, beyond rationality.
Mahalo and Mahalo Ke Akua.
Williamson Chang
Professor of Law
https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/35797
This millennium has uncovered new understandings of what has happened in Hawai‘i. As Dr. Sai states, “In 2001, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, acknowledged that, ‘in the nineteenth century the Hawaiian Kingdom existed as an independent State recognized as such by the United States of America, the United Kingdom and various other States.’”
However, the US continues its illegal occupation, abuse of human rights and desecration of sacred lands. Te Wharepora hou have maintained their stance of solidarity with native Hawaiian peoples who presently struggle for the continued protection of Mauna a Wakea. Dr. Lee-Penehira advises, “Protectors of Mauna a Wakea have been occupying the sacred ancestral mountain on the island of Hawai‘i for over 100 days now, to prevent the construction of the world’s largest telescope; the planned Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT) project.
This is a direct attack on the physical, spiritual and cultural integrity of the maunga and the wellbeing of the Hawaiian People and the generations to come. Dr. Sai and I will be joining other supporters of Mauna a Wakea in a dawn ceremony of solidarity on Saturday morning here in Auckland.”
It is time, as Dr. Sai states, for the world to understand “the violation of human rights and war crimes that continue to take place on a grand scale whilst hidden under a cloak of deception and lies. These abuses are now coming to the forefront”.
https://tewhareporahou.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/hawaii-an-american-state-or-a-state-under-american-occupation/
"Majority populations, cognizant of outside pressure and knowing that they should not resort to mass murder, have turned instead to cultural genocide as a “second best” politically determined substitute for physical genocide."
https://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780813553443
" Ethnocide means that an ethnic group is denied the right to enjoy, develop and transmit its own culture and its own language, whether collectively or individually. This involves an extreme form of massive violation of human rights and, in particular, the right of ethnic groups to respect for their cultural identity." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocide
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